Toy block coupling structure and toy block comprising same

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are a toy block coupling structure and a toy block comprising same. A toy block, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, has a structure in which blocks are provided in a block coupling toy so as to be coupled to each other, and comprises: a coupling protrusion; and a coupling hole into which the coupling protrusion is inserted so as to be coupled, wherein the inner surface of the coupling hole comprises a plane portion capable of coming in line-contact with the outer circumferential surface of the coupling protrusion in the depth direction. Therefore, the coupling force between toy blocks can be stably maintained. In addition, the occurrence of defective toy blocks can be reduced and the coupling force between the toy blocks can be uniformly maintained to be uniform. Furthermore, the coupling of the toy blocks can be facilitated.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a toy block coupling structure and a toy block, and particularly, to a coupling structure for coupling toy blocks to each other and a toy block including same.

BACKGROUND ART

For early education and development of creativity of an infant or a child, block toys in which blocks of various shapes may be assembled to make a structure of a building shape or an animal shape have been variously developed.

Such an assembly type block toy may be generally configured to enable an infant or a child to couple and decouple unit blocks of various shapes by him or herself. As such, by arousing a manipulator's interest and, at the same time, giving the manipulator a sense of achievement when he or she completes a structure, creativity ability and intelligence of an infant or a child may be developed.

Here, a coupling structure that is able to simultaneously maintain a constant coupling force in a state in which the toy blocks are assembled and form the constant coupling force between the toy blocks should be formed at each of the toy blocks to couple and decouple the toy blocks.

For this purpose, in many cases a coupling structure which couples a protrusion formed at one toy block to a hole formed at the other toy block may be formed at the toy blocks. Such a coupling structure maintains a coupling force by means of friction between an outer surface of the protrusion and an entire inner surface of the hole under a state in which the protrusion is inserted into the hole. In many cases, however, maintaining a uniform size of each of a protrusion and a hole, which are formed at a toy block, may be difficult due to a manufacturing process. For example, when the toy block is made of a plastic material, a case in which each of the protrusion and the hole is formed greater or less than a target size in the course of a molding process may frequently occur due to contraction or distortion of a plastic. When such an error of the manufacturing process occurs, because the protrusion cannot be inserted into the hole or a coupling force cannot be maintained even though the protrusion is inserted into the hole, a defective product may be generated.

For reducing such a defective product, there is an attempt to maintain a coupling force between toy blocks by means of a magnet provided inside each of the toy blocks or at a surface of each thereof, or by means of a separate piece to be coupled to each of the toy blocks. In such a case, however, a manufacture cost of the toy block may be increased and the number of components (coupling pieces) required to assemble the toy blocks may be increased.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to stably maintain a coupling force between toy blocks when they are assembled to each other.

Also, the embodiments of the present invention are directed to reduce occurrence of defective toy blocks and to uniformly maintain a coupling force between toy blocks.

In addition, the embodiments of the present invention are directed to facilitate a coupling between toy blocks.

Technical Solution

A toy block coupling structure according to an embodiment of the present invention is a structure provided at block coupling toys to couple the block coupling toys to each other, and includes a coupling protrusion, and a coupling hole into which the coupling protrusion is inserted to be coupled thereto, wherein an inner surface of the coupling hole includes a plane portion configured to be able to come in line-contact with an outer circumferential surface of the coupling protrusion in a depth direction of the coupling hole.

Here, the coupling protrusion may be formed in a cylindrical shape, and an arc portion and the plane portion may be formed along a circumference of the inner surface of the coupling hole.

At this point, the arc portion and the plane portion may extend in the depth direction of the coupling hole.

Also, the arc portion and the plane portion may be alternately formed along the circumference.

Meanwhile, two or more plane portions may be provided, and the two or more plane portions may be symmetrically formed to be angularly spaced apart from each other by a predetermined angle along the circumference of the inner surface of the coupling hole.

Here, the predetermined angle may be 90 degrees, and four plane portions may be formed along the circumference of the inner surface of the coupling hole.

Also, each of the two or more plane portions may have an identical length in the depth direction of the coupling hole.

In addition, the plane portion of the inner surface of the coupling hole may be formed to be spaced apart from an outer end part of the coupling hole in the depth direction thereof, and a guide portion may be formed between the outer end part and the plane portion in the depth direction of the plane portion.

At this point, the guide portion may have an inner diameter greater than an outer diameter of the coupling protrusion.

A toy block having such a toy block coupling structure includes outer surfaces, each of which is formed with a combination of a curved surface and a planar surface, wherein one or more of a coupling hole and a coupling protrusion which are included in the toy block coupling structure may be formed on at least one surface of the outer surfaces.

Further, a toy block according to the present invention of the present invention is a toy block having a structure provided at block coupling toys to couple the block coupling toys to each other, and includes one or more coupling holes formed at one or more surfaces of each of the toy blocks and into which a coupling protrusion of a cylindrical shape is inserted to be coupled thereto, wherein a plane portion is formed at an inner side of each of the one or more coupling holes and configured to include a plane extending in a depth direction of each of the one or more coupling holes so as to come in line-contact with an outer surface of the coupling protrusion.

Here, a hole portion formed at a side opposite the plane of the plane portion in a length direction of each of the one or more coupling holes may be included.

Advantageous Effects

The toy block coupling structure according to the embodiment of the present invention may be able to stably maintain a coupling force between toy blocks. Also, occurrence of defective toy blocks may be reduced, the coupling force between the toy blocks may be uniformly maintained, and furthermore a coupling between the toy blocks may be facilitated.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of a toy block coupling structure according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the toy block coupling structure according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a toy block and a coupling hole according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plane view of the coupling hole according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of toy blocks that employ the toy block coupling structure according to one embodiment of the present invention.

MODES OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, a concrete embodiment of the present invention will be disclosed with reference to the drawings. However, the embodiment is merely an illustration, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

In the following description of the present invention, if a detailed description of known art is determined to obscure the interpretation of embodiments of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. Also, all terms used hereinafter are defined by considering a function in an embodiment, and meanings thereof may be different according to the intent of a user and an operator or a custom. Therefore, the definitions of these terms used in the following embodiment should be understood based on the entire content disclosed herein.

The technical spirit of the present invention should be determined by the appended claims, and the following embodiment may be merely one means for effectively describing the technical spirit of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view prior to a coupling of a toy block coupling structure 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the toy block coupling structure 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the toy block coupling structure 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention relates to a structure which couples blocks to each other in a block coupling type toy. For example, this relates to a structure in which a coupling protrusion 10 formed at a first block 1 is inserted into a coupling hole 20 of a second block 2 to be coupled thereto. Here, the coupling protrusion 10 is fit into the coupling hole 20 so that the coupling protrusion 10 and the coupling hole 20 are maintained in a coupled state as long as a force over a predetermined force is not acted thereon, thereby the first block 1 and the second block 2 are in the coupled state. On the other hand, when a force over the predetermined force is acted thereon so as to decouple the first block 1 and the second block 2, the first block 1 and the second block 2 may be decoupled from each other. As such, by repeating a coupling and a decoupling between the blocks 1 and 2, a variety of shapes of combined bodies of the blocks 1 and 2 may be formed. Here, “the predetermined force” may be a force applicable by a person who manipulates the blocks 1 and 2, for example, by a hand of a child or an infant, and thus a variety of combined bodies of the blocks 1 and 2 may be used as a toy.

Meanwhile, the first block 1 and the second block 2 may be formed of a plastic, for example, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS).

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the coupling protrusion 10 may have a shape that protrudes from one lateral surface of the first block 1, and may include a hollow portion H therein. As shown in FIG. 2, the coupling protrusion 10 may be formed in a cylindrical shape but the shape of the coupling protrusion 10 is not limited thereto, and the coupling protrusion 10 may certainly be formed in a shape of a polygonal pillar including a square pillar, a pentagonal pillar, a hexagonal pillar, and the like. In other words, it may be sufficient to form the coupling protrusion 10 in a shape that is able to be fit into the coupling hole 20 of the second block 2 to come in line-contact with a plane portion 30, which will be described later, of an inner surface of the coupling hole 20, and a detailed shape of the coupling protrusion 10 may be implemented in a variety of shapes.

Meanwhile, a tapered portion T may be formed at an outer circumference of an end part of the coupling protrusion 10. The tapered portion T may blunt the end part of the coupling protrusion 10 so as not to hurt a person who manipulates the toy block coupling structure and the toy block according to the embodiment of the present invention. In addition to the described above, when the coupling protrusion 10 is inserted into the coupling hole 20, a determination of an initial position of the coupling protrusion 10 may be more easily made at a beginning of the insertion into the coupling hole 20. Here, the tapered portion T may certainly have a curved shape as well as a planar shape.

Hereinafter, with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the coupling hole 20 into which the above described coupling protrusion 10 of the first block 1 is inserted so as to be coupled thereto will be described in detail.

The coupling hole 20 is formed in a shape into which the coupling protrusion 10 can be inserted, and the inner surface thereof includes the plane portion 30 that an outer circumferential surface of the coupling protrusion 10 (FIGS. 1 and 2) can come in line-contact with. For example, the plane portion 30 may include a plane that extends in a depth direction of the coupling hole at an inner side thereof, and all parts that can be coupled to the coupling protrusion 10 in an inward direction of the coupling hole 20 may be formed in the plane. However, the plane portion is not limited to the shape described above and it may be a shape in which planes extending in the depth direction of the coupling hole are coupled in a stepped shape and the like. The coupling hole 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be looked at in more detail hereinafter.

The coupling protrusion 10, which is inserted into an inner space S of the coupling hole 20 including the plane portion 30, comes into contact with the plane portion 30, thereby being coupled to the coupling hole 20. Here, an outer circumferential surface of such a coupling protrusion 10 and the inner surface of the coupling hole 20 come in line-contact with each other in the depth direction of the coupling hole 20. In particular, when the coupling protrusion 10 is located at the inner space S of the coupling hole 20, an inner surface of the coupling hole 20 closest to a center thereof becomes the plane portion 30 of the coupling hole 20, and the coupling protrusion 20 comes in line-contact with such a plane portion 30 so that the coupling protrusion 10 and the coupling hole 20 come into contact and are coupled to each other. Consequently, as long as a force over the predetermined force is not acted thereon, the coupling protrusion 10 may be maintained in the coupled state inside the coupling hole 20 by means of friction between the outer circumferential surface of the coupling protrusion 10 and the plane portion 30. Here, the plane portion 30 may be formed inside the coupling hole 20 along a circumference of the inner surface of the coupling hole 20, and may be integrally formed when the inner surface thereof is formed (for example, through a method including an injection molding and the like). Also, a portion at the inner surface of the coupling hole 20 at which such a plane portion 30 is not formed may be an arc portion 40 that is formed in an arc shape. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the plane portion 30 and the arc portion 40 may be alternately formed at the inner surface of the coupling hole 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

In addition, plane portions 30 of the inner surface of the coupling hole 20 may be symmetrically formed to be angularly spaced apart from each other by a predetermined angle along the circumference of the inner surface of the coupling hole 20. Further, each of the plane portions 30 may be formed to have the same length in the depth direction of the coupling hole 20. By the plane portions 30 being formed as described above, when the coupling protrusion 10 is coupled to the coupling hole 20, a coupling force between the coupling protrusion 10 and the coupling hole 20 may symmetrically act thereon to make a coupling therebetween more stable. Here, when the predetermined angle is 90 degrees, four plane portions 30 may be formed along the circumference of the inner surface of the coupling hole 20 so that the coupling protrusion 10 may be coupled inside the coupling hole 20 as if it were coupled to a hole of a square pillar shape.

Meanwhile, the plane portions 30 may extend in the depth direction of the coupling hole 20 so that line contact in the depth direction between the outer circumferential surface of the coupling protrusion 10 and the plane portions 30 may be definitely accomplished.

As described above, by providing the plane portions 30 at the inner surface of the coupling hole 20, the toy block coupling structure 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention may allow the coupling protrusion 10 and the coupling hole 20 to secure the same assembly feeling.

Generally, the toy blocks 1 and 2 have a variety of shapes, a coupling and decoupling thereof is very frequently performed and manipulated, and also each shape of the toy blocks 1 and 2 is molded and fabricated with a separate metal die so that it is difficult to secure the same assembly feeling due to a mold error of each of the toy blocks 1 and 2. Additionally, due to the mold error as well as such an assembly feeling, a case in which a coupling between some of the toy blocks 1 and 2 is loosened to easily escape from each other or the coupling therebetween is not easily made depending on the toy blocks 1 and 2 may occur.

On the other hand, in the toy block coupling structure 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention, because the plane portion 30 is provided at the inner surface of the coupling hole 20 and an outer circumferential portion of the coupling protrusion 10 is able to come in line-contact with the plane portion 30, a segment that the outer circumferential portion of the coupling protrusion 10 can make line contact with may be sufficiently secured and also the plane portion 30 may be stably located at a wide segment even when a mold error occurs so that the assembly feeling and the coupling force which are described above may be stably secured to be the same.

In addition to the described above, when the toy block is formed through an injection mold, by providing the plane portion 30 at the inner surface of the coupling hole 20 as in the embodiment of the present invention, a correction to a mold and a stabilization of an injection mold may be rapidly made. In this regard, it will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 4 as follows. In the following description, a case in which four plane portions 30 are provided along the circumference of the inner surface of the coupling hole 20 will be described but the number of plane portions 30 is not limited thereto, and a case in which greater or less than four plane portions 30 are provided may be applicable in the same manner.

Generally, in a toy block, a method for forming a protruding portion at an outer circumferential surface of a coupling protrusion or at an inner circumferential surface of a coupling hole may be used to make the coupling protrusion come in line-contact with an inside of the coupling hole.

In this case, when the toy block is manufactured by an injection molding method with a metal die, a size error may occur at a protruding portion of the metal die or a modification or a distortion may be easily generated at the protruding portion in the course of a mold process. In such a case, the coupling protrusion of the toy block and the coupling hole thereof may not be stably coupled to each other.

Further, because the coupling protrusion is coupled to the coupling hole with line contact, an inspection of and a correction to the protruding portion of the coupling hole may be required to find which part has a problem. However, in terms of the coupling protrusion or the protruding portion of the coupling hole, and especially a protruding portion protruding inward the coupling hole, a problematic segment may be hard to find due to no suitable measurement instrument for measuring a size and the like of the protruding portion and it may be difficult to precisely make a correction thereto even when the problematic segment is found.

On the other hand, in terms of the toy block coupling structure 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention, a portion of the coupling hole 20 coming in line-contact with the coupling protrusion 10 is made to be the plane portion 30 which is formed at the circumference of the inner surface of the coupling hole 20 so that such problems as described above may not occur. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, because the portion of the coupling hole 20 to which the coupling protrusion 10 is coupled is the plane portion 30 having a planar shape, it may be difficult for a modification or a distortion of the plane portion 30 to occur in the course of the injection molding process, and even when a problem does occur, a distance between the plane portions 30, for example, a distance between 30 a and 30 c and a distance between 30 b and 30 d in FIG. 4, may be easily measured by means of a general measurement instrument at a mold or the coupling hole 20 so that a problematic segment may be easily found. Moreover, by correcting a segment of the mold corresponding to the plane portion 30, a correction to the problematic segment may be easily made so that a correction to the mold and a stabilization of an injection mold may be easily and rapidly accomplished.

In addition, a hole portion 35 (a hole portion formed adjacent to a surface opposite each of the plane portion 30 a, 30 b, 30 c, and 30 d in FIG. 4) may be formed at a side opposite the plane portion 30. The hole portion 35 may be formed at a side opposite the plane of the plane portion 30 in a length direction of the coupling hole 20. When the coupling protrusion 10 is inserted into the coupling hole 20 to come in line-contact with the plane portion 30, such a hole portion 35 may buffer deformation even when the deformation occurs at some part of the plane portion 30 due to pressurization of the coupling protrusion 10 and, at the same time, may ensure a stable coupling between the coupling protrusion 10 and the coupling hole 20. For example, when the toy blocks 1 and 2 according to the embodiment of the present invention are formed of a plastic and the coupling protrusion 10 is inserted inside the coupling hole 20, the plane portion 30 may be bent slightly inward toward the hole portion to enable the coupling protrusion 10 to be stably coupled thereto.

Meanwhile, in the toy block coupling structure 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention, a guide portion 50 may be formed at an end part of the coupling hole 20. The guide portion 50 may be formed to extend as much as a predetermined length from an outer end part of the coupling hole 20 to an inner side in the depth direction thereof, and may be formed over the entire circumference of the outer end part of the coupling hole 20. The plane portion 30 of the coupling hole 20 may be formed from an end part in a depth direction of the guide portion 50 to be spaced apart from the outer end part of the coupling hole 20 in the depth direction thereof.

Here, when all of the guide portion 50 and the coupling protrusion 10 are formed in a cylindrical shape, the guide portion 50 may have an inner diameter greater than an outer diameter of the coupling protrusion 10 which is inserted into the coupling hole 20. Also, the minimum inner diameter of the guide portion 50 has an inner diameter greater than that formed by the plane portion 30 coming in line-contact with an outer circumference portion of the coupling protrusion 10, wherein the minimum inner diameter is formed by the plane portion 30 in a radial direction of an inner circumferential surface of the coupling hole 20, that is, it is formed equal to or slightly less than the outer diameter of the coupling protrusion 10. Further, the inner diameter of the guide portion 50 may be gradually reduced from the outer end part of the coupling hole 20 toward an inner side thereof in the depth direction thereof. Here, the inner diameter of the guide portion 50 may be linearly reduced. However, the inner diameter is not limited thereto, and it may be reduced as long as it forms a concave curve, and, for example, the concave curve may be formed to be rounded with a radius in a range of 0.2 to 0.3 mm.

Such a guide portion 50 may serve to guide the coupling protrusion 10 inside the coupling hole 20 when the coupling protrusion 10 enters inside the coupling hole 20 so as to be inserted thereinto, and also such a guide portion 50 is formed so that the coupling protrusion 10 is more easily coupled to the coupling hole 20. In addition, when the coupling protrusion 10 enters inside the coupling hole 20 so as to be inserted thereinto, an initial entering resistance inside the coupling hole 20 acting against the coupling protrusion 10 may be reduced.

Furthermore, a tapered portion may be provided to taper a circumference of the end part of the coupling protrusion 10 toward the coupling hole 20 (for example, to taper the end part of the coupling protrusion 10 toward an inner side from the end part thereof as much as 0.2 mm in a section of 0.5 mm in a length direction of the coupling protrusion 10). As such, the initial entering resistance inside the coupling hole 20 acting against the coupling protrusion 10 may be reduced more.

In other words, although the initial entering resistance is different depending on a shape and a size of each of the coupling protrusion 10 and the coupling hole 20, for example, the initial entering resistance may be minimized in a case in which an entering direction of the coupling protrusion 10 and a direction of a central axis of the coupling hole 20 form a predetermined angle (for example, an angle of 21.8 degrees) when the coupling protrusion 10 enters inside the coupling hole 20. At this point, by providing the tapered portion at the coupling protrusion 10 and the guide portion 50 at the coupling hole 20, an initial position of the coupling protrusion 10 may be easily determined at the end part of the coupling hole 20 so that a force that is applied to the coupling protrusion 10 by a manipulator may be applied in a forward direction.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 5(a) to 5(s), for example, the toy block coupling structure 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention may be formed at various toy blocks 200, each of which has an outer surface formed with a combination of a curved surface and a plane. In other words, one or more of both the coupling protrusion 10 and the coupling hole 20 that have the toy block coupling structure 100 are formed at the outer surface of each of the toy blocks 200 so that a variety of couplings between the toy blocks 200 may be possible. Under a state in which a coupling between the toy blocks 200 is stably maintained through such a variety of couplings, structures of various shapes may be implemented.

Meanwhile, because both the coupling protrusion 10 and the coupling hole 20 that have the toy block coupling structure 100 are formed at one surface among outer surfaces of a single toy block 200, they may certainly be coupled to a coupling hole 20 and a coupling protrusion 10 of another toy block 200, respectively. As a result, a structure created through a coupling of the toy blocks 200 may be made in a large variety of shapes.

Hereinabove, although the present invention has been described in detailed through the representative embodiment, it should be understood that numerous modifications with respect to the embodiment described above can be devised by those skilled in the art without departing the scope of the present invention.

The scope of the present invention, therefore, is not limited to the embodiment disclosed herein, and it should be defined by the appended claims and also equivalents to which such claims are entitled. 

1. A toy block coupling structure, which is provided at block coupling toys to couple the block coupling toys to each other, comprising: a coupling protrusion; and a coupling hole into which the coupling protrusion is inserted to be coupled thereto, wherein an inner surface of the coupling hole includes a plane portion configured to be able to come in line-contact with an outer circumferential surface of the coupling protrusion in a depth direction of the coupling hole.
 2. The toy block coupling structure of claim 1, wherein the coupling protrusion is formed in a cylindrical shape, and an arc portion and the plane portion are formed along a circumference of the inner surface of the coupling hole.
 3. The toy block coupling structure of claim 2, wherein the arc portion and the plane portion extend in the depth direction of the coupling hole.
 4. The toy block coupling structure of claim 2, wherein the arc portion and the plane portion are alternately formed along the circumference.
 5. The toy block coupling structure of claim 1, wherein two or more plane portions are provided and the two or more plane portions are symmetrically formed to be angularly spaced apart from each other by a predetermined angle along the circumference of the inner surface of the coupling hole.
 6. The toy block coupling structure of claim 5, wherein the predetermined angle is 90 degrees, and four plane portions are formed along the circumference of the inner surface of the coupling hole.
 7. The toy block coupling structure of claim 5, wherein each of the two or more plane portions has an identical length in the depth direction of the coupling hole.
 8. The toy block coupling structure of claim 1, wherein the plane portion of the inner surface of the coupling hole is formed to be spaced apart from an outer end part of the coupling hole in the depth direction thereof, and a guide portion is formed between the outer part and the plane portion in the depth direction of the coupling hole.
 9. The toy block coupling structure of claim 8, wherein the guide portion has an inner diameter greater than an outer diameter of the coupling protrusion.
 10. A toy block comprising: outer surfaces, each of which is formed with a combination of a curved surface and a planar surface, wherein one or more of a coupling hole and a coupling protrusion which are included in the toy block coupling structure disclosed in claim 1 are formed on at least one surface of the outer surfaces.
 11. A toy block, which includes a structure that is provided at block coupling toys to couple the block coupling toys to each other, comprising: one or more coupling holes formed at one or more surfaces of each of the toy blocks and into which a coupling protrusion of a cylindrical shape is inserted to be coupled thereto, wherein a plane portion is formed at an inner side of each of the one or more coupling holes and configured to include a plane extending in a depth direction of each of the one or more coupling holes so as to come in line-contact with an outer surface of the coupling protrusion.
 12. The toy block of claim 11, further comprising: a hole portion formed at a side opposite the plane of the plane portion in a length direction of each of the one or more coupling holes. 